"Colton, please don't fight me right now."

He grunted and pushed the shirt away then rolled over and crawled towards the end of the bed, finding one of his toys and grabbing it happily. Lindsay grumbled and resisted the urge to rake her hands through her hair as she had just sprayed it perfectly into place. Why she was stressing out over how she was going to look in front of Adam's ex-girlfriend, she didn't know, but the fact that she was only made the stressing out worse.

She checked her watch and picked up the phone, staring at it for a minute before dialing.

"You again?"

"Thanks, Aust."

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"One of Adam's ex-girlfriends is coming over for dinner."

"Shut the front door. What?"

Lindsay quickly told her about the run-in at the mall nearly tripping over her description of what Adam and Carrie had been to each other.

"And his mom invited her for dinner?"

"I don't think she knows about them. Not everything anyway. Is it normal for me to feel like the wallflower who has to hang out with the head cheerleader and doesn't get to plot a revenge?"

"Oh so you want to dump pigs blood on her?"

"Should I have called Stella instead?"

"I'm sorry, Linds. I guess I just… I don't get it. He's with you. He picked you. Why do you feel like you have to prove something to her?"

"I don't know. Maybe I want to prove something to him. I don't want him to see her and regret that he ended things with her."

"Lindsay he is not dumb. He married you because he loves you. He'll never leave you and he is never going to regret marrying you. It doesn't matter who he dated before. And you know that as well as you know anything."

"Thanks for smackin' me in the face with my own idiocy."

"What are friends for? Now stop the sniffles."

"You could hear that?"

"Yeah. Don't ever do it in front of me, okay?"

"I won't."

"Seriously Linds. That man is madly, insanely, disgustingly in love with you. This dinner is going to be just fine and he is going to love you just as much by dessert. And don't worry about Carrie, she's just a friend of the family and feeling as weird about this as you are. Believe me, I have been through enough moments like this."

"You have?"

"Danny and I weren't together our whole lives Linds. He has his share of ex-girlfriends and I have my share of mistakes too. And sure, it might be a little awkward, but it's not so bad. I know you guys are different than us, but that doesn't mean this can't be just fine."

"Have you ever thought about quitting your job and making your fortune by giving wacky people pep talks? Cuz you do it really well."

"Nah, you knew that stuff already, you just had to hear it. Plus I can hear jet lag in your voice which is probably making you a little more stressed than you normally would be. And you're not on your home turf, so that's gonna make you feel vulnerable… and don't tell anyone I got this soft side, okay?"

"I'll take it with me to my grave."

"Good. Now go down there and have a laughable dinner and don't forget to tell me all about it, with embellishments."

"And voices?"

"And voices."

"Thanks Aust."

"You'd do the same for me."

"I'd try at least. Love you."

"Love you too."

She turned the phone off and looked over at Colton who smiled back at her and crawled across the bed, halfway then giggled.

"Oh come here you little tease!" she said reaching out and pulling him into her lap. He laughed as she tickled him and wrestled him playfully, forgetting her stresses and focusing completely on his happy face. He grinned and reached up, tugging on her hair. She laughed and blew a raspberry on his cheek, taking a second to just breathe him in.

"Hey, what's going on up here?" Adam asked, peeking around the door. "Sounds like you're having fun without me."

"Well we were trying get us presentable so we won't embarrass you," she said with a smile.

"Well getting dressed might be a good idea," he said, despite his love for her like she was now; barefooted in old comfortable jeans and a dark bra, her hair curling gently and resting on her shoulders, very little make-up on, her eyes dancing. He closed the door and crossed the room to her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"You're beautiful, Linds."

"You say that a lot."

"I cannot tell a lie."

She smiled.

"It's almost six," she reminded him, breaking the intense gaze they had going.

"Yep. Some people in this room need shirts," he said tossing her the top she had earlier slung over the back of a chair. She pulled it over her head and adjusted her hair while Adam wrangled a shirt onto Colton and lifted him off the bed.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

He started to walk towards the door, then turned around and grabbed her waist pulling her to him in a searing kiss.

"I love you, Lindsay."

"I know you do."

The greetings at the door seemed forced and off-kilter and Lindsay actually found herself feeling worse for Carrie than she did for herself. She could only watch in amusement and sympathy as Adam stumbled over his words, trying desperately to make this normal, but failing to the point where even his mother knew something was weird.

"I don't um… usually look like this," he said, motioning to his lack of beard. "I mean, I do for the most part, but I don't look so clean. I mean not that I look dirty or anything, but I-"

Lindsay couldn't take it anymore, feeling a bit of laughter starting in her stomach, and she gently placed her hand on his wrist. He slowed down and greeted Carrie properly and they all moved into the dining room. There was a moment of awkwardness, but once everyone had food in front of them and Sharon had started chattering everything felt okay. Lindsay mostly just listened to the conversations, finding herself delighted with stories of a young Adam that he would never have told her on his own.

She noticed that every three minutes or so, he would reach under the table and squeeze her hand or pat her knee or some other little gesture that no one else saw, but served to settle her more. She loved how well he knew her, even when he wasn't trying.

Colton yawned and slid his thumb into his mouth, looking up at Adam with big eyes and resting his head on the tray of his high chair.

"Dada?" he asked quietly.

"You want to get out of there, bud?" he asked, lifting him out of the chair. Colton sighed and rested his head on Adam's shoulder. "Must be time for bed."

"He didn't really nap today," Lindsay said softly. Colton grinned at her and popped his thumb out of his mouth, offering it to her in all its slobbery glory.

"No baby, you go ahead and keep that. I appreciate the gesture though."

She kissed him and stood up from the table, gathering the empty plates.

"Dear, you don't have to do that," Sharon said, starting to stand up too.

"No it's okay. I don't mind."

"Babe, how come you always mind when it's our dishes piled up in the sink?"

"Because you won't fix the dishwasher."

"Do you really want me trying to fix the dishwasher?"

"I guess you have a point, but it doesn't mean you're right," she retorted, taking a stack of plates into the kitchen.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with her."

"I heard that, Mister."

He shook his head and she grinned, setting the plates in the sink and turning the water on, dribbling a little soap in for good measure.

"Need help?"

Lindsay turned at Carrie's voice, nearly dropping the saucer she had been holding.

"Oh. Um… you don't have to. I mean, you can if you want. But you're the guest so you shouldn't have to."

"You caught Adam's word stumbling problem."

"Seems to be."

"This is kind of uncomfortable for me too."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's my fault," Carrie started, setting the serving dishes on the counter. "I was kind of cold to you earlier today. And not really for any reason."

"I think you had a reason," Lindsay replied softly.

"I knew you two got married. I didn't know about Colton."

"Apparently not all word spreads fast."

"I still shouldn't have…" she trailed off with a sigh. "I kind of hated you. At least at first. You were this stranger that stole him from me. He was never really mine to begin with. He was yours from the second you met. I knew he was going to break it off with me, just from the way he talked about you. I guess I just kind of hoped that he wouldn't."

"I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be sorry. He's happy with you. I can see it in his eyes. I've known him for long enough to know that the way he has looked at everyone else doesn't even begin to come close to the way he looks at you."

"I've heard that a few times."

"He's been in my life for a long time and he's always going to be special to me. So you had better love him back just as much as he loves you."

"Don't worry. I do."

"Now that that is out of the way, I can tell you the ultimate Adam story that he would never want you to know."

"Spill it, woman."

"No offense babe, but you look really tired," Adam commented later that night as Lindsay turned off the bedroom light and cracked the window open.

"You could say that with the intent of being offensive and I would still agree with you."

She leaned down over the old playpen and tucked the blanket around Colton, brushing his hair back from his face before getting into bed herself.

Adam wrapped around her tightly, running his hand up and down her back before pressing a kiss to her forehead. She nuzzled into him and sighed, loving this time of night when it was just the two of them; when words were murmured softly, lips grazed over each other with a slowness that could have stopped the world.

"I heard giggling from the kitchen earlier," he noted, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, Carrie was telling me something about a sunburn."

"She's a traitor."

"I like her."

"I figured you might."

She sighed and found his hand, tracing over the lines in the moonlight.

"Adam, do you ever wonder what life would be like if we hadn't ever met?"

"No. It's not exactly an idea I would like to entertain."

"But… we wouldn't know that we didn't know."

"Don't you think we would both feel like something was missing?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Linds, I'm glad you're the one I'd be missing."

"Right back at you. Thanks for picking me."

"Thanks for having me. Go to sleep baby."

"Kiss me goodnight?"

"Always."